Couple bring world board games competition to Singapore after face-off in Las Vegas

The stakes were high for data analyst Ivan Chen as he stared at the cards laid out before him on the table at a Las Vegas hotel on a balmy evening in September 2024.

- Kolette Lim

On the line was a chance at glory and US$25,000 (S$32,100), but Mr Chen and his wife Lynn Liu, both 36, were not gambling in the casino pits of the Nevada town.

As chance would have it, they were facing off against each other in the first round of a board game called Splendor, after flying halfway across the world from Singapore to compete against thousands at the annual World Series of Board Gaming (WSBG).

Splendor is a card-based board game in which players are gem merchants and race to accumulate points. In Las Vegas, Mr Chen beat Ms Liu, a digital marketing manager, and went all the way to the final round before finishing fourth.

He said: "Everyone—young and old—can play board games, so there's a 1 per cent chance you can be a world champion. We thought we had a chance, but we were unlucky."

The experience, which the couple described as "electrifying and novel," inspired them to bring the tournament to Singapore in the form of a WSBG satellite event.